What is the Bornfree?

The Bornfree Art Schoolis a special school exclusively for street, working children and freed bonded labour children. The objective is to educate and develop these children through the arts, putting them back into the main stream of education. Children will learn sculpture-making, painting, dance, music, theatre, photography and filmmaking along with basic reading, writing, and mathematics. Education through entertainment and the sharing of knowledge are the core aspects to our dynamic process of learning. Art is a therapeutic means for children from such difficult backgrounds to express themselves freely, regain the confidence and self respect as well as to generate interest in education.

Children liberate other children....

is the core belief and activity of the Bornfree. Children of the Bornfree, once being liberated themselves, go out for search for another child being exploited on the streets, workplaces, slums, and convince them to join the Bornfree. More details...

Background

There are 217 million working children in the world, 134 million of which live and word in India. These children toil for adults' profits and are deprived of the fundamental human right to education. Working children have no homes and attend no schools; they instead roam the streets and sleep under the stars. They belong to the most oppressed section of the society. In India, child labour is prohibited under the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child as well as the domestic law entitled the Child Labour Prohibition Act, 1986. However, child labour is socially, politically, economically and culturally systemized and practiced all over India. We need to bring about a social and cultural change in the mindset of the people and create an ever-growing community committed to the cause of creating an egalitarian society free of toiling children. Until we take up the task of educating and empowering our children, changes in the social pattern will become a distant dream. It is through the expressive idiom of the plastic and visual arts; theater, dance, mime, song and music and dialogue. Go to Artistic Expression.

Why Arts?

Art is a means of therapy for children who have been exposed to violence, anger, exploitation, hatred and who are depressed and emotionally unstable. They need to be able to liberate themselves from these social, cultural, physical and emotional traumas through the cultivation of free expression and creativity generated by music, dance, theater, sculpting, painting, photographing, and filmmaking. The Arts are a powerful tool for these children to gain confidence and reestablish themselves as human beings of worth. The arts create a safe place in which these children can dream a dream, recover their childhoods and have hope for the future.

The arts are a powerful tool for searching out the truth and finding the spirit of the inner self, both of immense value in self and social education.

Arts for the Cause

Artists make history and change the world. Artists can stop wars, fight against corruption, and change the way that people think. You can come and work with us! Contact us!